Raptor center to send birds to Alaskan Eagle program

A few tests and some paperwork are all that’s keeping a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk grounded.

When those are completed, Auburn University’s Southeastern Raptor Center will fly the birds, whose injuries make them ineligible for release into the wild, to the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, Alaska, according to Liz Crandall, a technician at the center.

“We’re pretty excited about getting new birds,” said Dan Hart, executive director of the American Bald Eagle Foundation. “It’s only been this year that we’ve had live bald eagles.”

This is not the first collaboration between the programs.

Hart said raptor center staff have been guest presenters and one of the foundation’s trustees, Harold Williams, is an Auburn alumnus.